Short story for writers digest competition

                        Eighth Grade

Hi, my name is Coup. Well, it’s actually Couper, but I like coup better. Did you know it means ‘a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government.’, or so says the dictionary. Now, I don’t want to overthrow anyone, mind you, but it’s still a cool name. I am 14, and I go to Riverside school. It’s not actually by the

river, but I guess whoever named it thought the idea of being next to a river might

attract people. The school is pretty good we have nice teachers, and recess at

lunch, which I am told doesn’t happen everywhere. The teachers are a bit aloof.

If we have a fight, they let us figure it out. Right now, it is the second week of

school, so we don’t have too much homework yet.

I wrote this last class. We have a new teacher and she wants to get to know everyone, so she had us write about ourselves. Right now it’s recess. I am standing in line for four square. I’ll assume you know this simple game, the one with a four squares? “Hey, George” I call to my best friend, “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

“To get to the other side”

“To get to the dummies house” I said. “Knock knock”

“Who’s….” he paused to deflect the ball to Joshe in third square, “there?”

“Chicken” I said laughing. “Do you get it, the chicken went to the dummy's house?”

“Oh my gosh, that is the lamest joke ever.” But sure enough, he started saying it to me, and I only said it more back. This is where it gets bad. “Hey, Coup, why did the chicken cross the road?” I looked up from my book, 8th grade “Stop, I reading” He says it again. “Stop Sam” I said with a little more force.

“Ok, fine”.

George walks over, “Hey, Coup, why did the chicken cross the road?”

“Are you trying to be annoying?!”

“No” he says, and walks away.  

                               ******

                    Two weeks later

Sam, Josh, and George walk up to me. In unison they say: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” with smiles on their faces that weren’t all that nice. I didn’t understand, why were my friends being so mean to me? They knew it was bothering me, and yet they persisted in it. I must admit, I was hurt.

I turned glaring “STOP IT!” I yelled.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” they persisted cruelty. The recess bell rang to signal us to come inside. Saved by the bell. I ran inside, ignoring the newest utterance of the question that had been hounding me for the last two weeks. Why are they doing this, even my best friend is joining in! They asked the question again, and I heard a laugh. I must say, I was surprised when I turned around to see who it was. It was Alain. She was a quiet girl, very gentle and calm. Until now she had been impartial. I felt even more angry and more hurt. I guess there is a mean streak in everyone. Maybe that’s why legalism was made, because someone lost faith in humanity. I know I am starting to. As we were filling into math class, I heard “Why did the chicken cross the road” for the last time. I would tell a teacher. Mom always said to tell a grown up if I was in a fight, and I guess it applies even in one sided fights. Teachers were always saying to, go to a teacher, go to an adult, they would do something! “Mrs. Macleoud?” I said walking up to her. She was strict, she would get the job done. “Can you tell them” I said turning and pointing at my used-to-be-friends “to stop asking me why the chicken crossed the road. It’s getting really annoying.”

“Boys, stop. I want you all to say sorry to each other and shake hands” She said. I was incredulous. “I’m not saying sorry” I protested “I didn’t do anything. They did it all”

“Do it now, or I’ll put a check next to your name” A check was a mark for bad behavior, to many and no recess for a day. My eyes burning, I muttered “sorry”, and offered my hand.

“Now accept each others apologies” I was alone. No one was there for me.

                             ******

                             5 days latter

There was new girl in our class. She says she’s from colorado and her name is Theo. I’m still getting her personality figured out, but she seems nice. Maybe she’ll stand up for me, or at least stay neutral. It’s probably to much to hope for, everyone is so vicious these days. We are in painting class, with Mrs. Macleoud. Right now, we are painting a snake, but we usually paint patterns. The walls are painted with warm water colors. Usually I like painting, but our teacher doesn’t help. Though I try to keep an open mind, I really despise Mrs Macleoud. I also don’t like our cursive teacher. She helped fire our teacher, who, by the way, was the best ever, because she wasn’t strict enough. To make matters worse, She is trying to teach us her style of cursive, not our old teachers. She is erasing her from our thoughts on paper. I resist as much as I can. And of course, the teasing has not stopped. It seems, no it is the reality, that whatever I don’t like is what they do. They have abandoned the old chicken “joke” in favour of names like Coupy, I hope they don’t get the obvious rhyming word anytime soon, and doing stuff like making wands and waving them in my face.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see the new girl. Walking in my direction. Despite myself, I hope she will not walk past me. Idiot. She’s probably just as bad as the rest of the world. Teenage minds are weird. Still, I hoped. She sat down next to me on the bench. I glance up at her. “Do you mind if I sit with you?” she asks. I’m tongue tied for a fraction of a second. Teenage minds really are weird.

“Sure” I say. There is an awkward silence. I lower my head back down. Back to my thinking. So…. Ugh, I can’t concentrate. Did I put deodorant on? Don’t be an idiot Coup! I see Sam and his group coming, and as I square my shoulder, mentally, they seem to notice Theo, and walk away as if they were planning to all along.

      THEO

The recess bell rang, and I stood up and walked. I had sat next to him because of how mean his classmates were being to him. And the teachers were doing nothing. Poor kid. These thoughts still filled my mind as I walked through the doorway and began on the route to math. This school was smaller than my old school. So small that all of one grade was in one class, about 16 people. There were also no other girls in the grade except me. It wasn’t an all boys school, and it was kind of weird. Making friends was hard. A lot of the kids were likeable, if not female, but I couldn’t stomach being friends with people who can be so mean to someone else. We had moved because of dad’s work, he’s an engineer.

School was over, and as I walked out the door, Couper hesitantly came up to me. He didn’t look like he’d had much experience with girls, and his treatment from his class probably didn’t give him much pe ople confidence. He looked really nervous. “Thanks for sitting next to me” he said.

“You’re welcome. It’s Couper, right?”

“Ya” he said nervously “ but I like Coup better.”

“Okay” I said.

                                   *****

                              That saturday

Me and my dad went out to the park to throw the frisbee I gave him for his birthday. I didn’t see him often, so I was having a lot of fun when I spotted Coup sprinting at the track at the base of the hill. He would run one straight away and then walk back to where he started, rest, then do it again. I considered inviting him to join us. “Who’s that” my dad asked, pointing towards Coup. “That’s Coup” I said, catching and throwing the frisbee.

“Why don’t you invite him to play with us”

“Uh, sure” I said. “Hey Coup” I say, throwing the frisbee to him, once my dad through it to me, “Catch”. I missed, and he jogged over to get the frisbee. When he was closer, he said “

Author's Note

not finished, please comment on ideas and flow, not the grammer and other specifics